# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1856_S271
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Whether Someone May Marry the Sister of His Deceased Wife? 271

would be both aunt and stepmother of the children of the deceased wife — the mother of her own children and the wife of their uncle; one and the same sons would be brothers and cousins to one another;

7. from the lack of any approved example; for neither among the people of Israel, nor among the ancient fathers, is there found any approved example of such marriages. One may not cite here the deed of the patriarch Jacob, since he married two sisters while both were still living, which is unlawful even by the confession of those who maintain that it is lawful to take two sisters in succession; —

8. with the authority of theologians old and new. As many of them acknowledge that the laws given in Lev. 18 are neither civil nor ceremonial but moral laws; and likewise as many of them hold that not only the persons expressly named, but also the corresponding degrees, are forbidden — these also acknowledge that marriage with the sister of one's deceased wife is forbidden, as is clear from the second ground above. The Council of Elvira, in the 4th century, determines in its 61st canon: "if anyone, after the passing of his wife, takes her sister, and she herself is a believer, they shall be kept back five years from the Supper, unless the emergency of an illness requires the reconciliation to be hastened." The Council of Auxerre, in the 7th century, says in its 30th canon: "it is not permitted to take two sisters in marriage in succession, one after the other has died." And since those who differ from us in opinion appeal to the authority of Luther, it should be noted that in a letter to Spalatin of March 3, 1530, he expressly disapproves of marriage with the wife of a paternal uncle. But if he held marriage with the wife of a paternal uncle — who is related in the second degree of the collateral line by affinity — to be forbidden, much more did he hold marriage with the sister of one's deceased wife, who is related in the first degree of the direct line by affinity, to be forbidden. In the Table Talk there is found a rescript of the Wittenberg Consistory, confirmed by the consent and agreement of the theologians and thus of Luther himself, which reads as follows: "Our friendly service beforehand. Honorable and especially good friend, we have received word of your awkward, troubling case, namely, that a peasant got his deceased wife's own full sister with child, and afterward, on the pastor's direction, took her in marriage, who is now also about to lie in childbed with the child. Since you, then, by order of our most gracious lord the Elector of Saxony and Burgrave of Magdeburg, desire and request to be informed on this matter, and especially concerning the penalty at law, we, as the ecclesiastical judges, after taking counsel with the theologians and weighing the case, report that the marriage in this case is not at all permissible nor to be tolerated. Wherefore such a marriage contract is adjudged invalid, and such persons are to be separated from one another, and also, on account of their committed fornication, and as a deterrent to others, taken into custody